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Im a Venezuelan, and can attest that the information stated for Venezuela is wrong. A liter of 95 Octane gasoline costs 0.097 BsF. The current official Bsf-$ rate is 4.3 BsF/US$, making a gallon cost at around 0.08 cents. If you use the non-official currency rate (which is the one that governs life cost over this part of the world) it comes to 0.04 cents/gallon.

We have Chavez

And we have the cheapest gas on Earth.

Wanna know something even more interesting? Producing gasoline costs us so much that its cheaper to import it from Brazil, even though we are the 4th-5th largest oil producer in the world. It is heavily subsidised by the government to prevent a coup/social breakdown from occurring. Venezuelans have beeen educated in that they "own" oil and gas, and that thereby "we" deserve cheap prices for it.

No problem :) Other than that I agree 100% with what you wrote. And I'd like to point out that even as our country obtains a massive amount of money from oil sales (which could be used to invest in any number of economic sectors), basic issues that concern everyone living in Venezuela like good healthcare and crime in the streets, are worse than ever. We live in a lawless land.

Had a friend visit there recently that told me neighboring countries send tankers over to Venezula to fill up cheap, take it home, and make insane profits. Also was interested in the fact that he could sell his $14,000 Ford sedan for closer ro $30,000 there.

because the USA's main bond is the lack of language barrier, introducing the new biggest state and saying now over a quarter of the population has Spanish as their main language would make it much harder for things to get done in the Mexican state compared to current states.

Also there's the difference in GDP of ~$35,000 so it would drop the American GDP considerably, along with the difference in credit rating making borrowing money much more expensive.

Invading Mexico sounds like a great idea at first look but go a little deeper and it's not really a good idea.

All the schools promote themselves as bilingual, even public schools teach English. because if it isn't bilingual,mothers won't take their kids there, because then they won't be able to enter the more "civilized" country that is the united states

Say that the US invaded mexico, after the 2 weeks of war, and a month of organization, i can guarantee

that it would take gringos only 3 years to put a shopping mall on every single town in the country.

These gas price threads inevitably turn into bash-the-U.S. threads. Why shouldn't I be afforded the right to complain about something that directly affects my life in a negative manner? Your implied argument is that one has no right to complain about something if someone else has it worst off. By that logic, no one has the right to complain about anything unless they are categorically the worst-off, most abused, unfairly treated person on the planet.

Unlike Europe most cities outside of the New England area were built around automobiles. While we may pay half as much for gas as Europe we're much more likely to have to commute to work or travel several miles just to go to the grocery store, all without access to public transportation. Outside of a few cities that try very hard to be pedestrian/bicycle/bus friendly maintaining employment and a social life without driving many miles daily is impossible.

Please stop presenting this a a solely American problem. This is a problem all over Europe also. I live in buttfuck nowhere and have to drive miles every day too. Yes there is public transportation, and where it is it is generally very good, but it doesn't penetrate very far into rural areas.

Agreed. Ireland has virtually no proper public transport. Only two or three cities have decent systems. Since I haven't gotten around to getting driving lessons, if I want to go to the shop, I have to cycle ~12 miles. If you don't have your own mode of transportation and you aren't in a town/city, you need to get a lift from someone who does.

As the other guy said it's not about the rural areas, but the fact that even if you live in the city you need a car. I live in Sacramento California, the state capitol and one of the oldest cities on the west coast. Over half a million people live in the city and over 2.5 million live in the metro area. We have one of the most extensive and advanced public transit systems in the state but outside of a few square miles in midtown and downtown there really is no way to live without a car.

American urban design since the 50s has been based around keeping residential, commercial, and industrial areas spread far apart with freeways in between.

Exactly. I live in the SF Bay Area and there is no way to live here without some kind of access to a car. Im lucky and live within walking distance of most grocery stores that I frequent, but anything beyond that pretty much necessitates a car.

I also lived 3 miles from school, but I would still have to bike or drive there. Bus would take about 2 hours to go from the station nearest me to the station closest to the college. It also had a very limiting schedule (like once an hour until 9pm, when it would pretty much stop service). Now, 3 miles is walking distance, but thats an hour of walking, weather permitting. Two hours to go back and forth -- hence why a car is necessary even for something this local.

Now, compare this to somewhere like St. Petersburg in Russia where all of my family that live there have one car between them that hasnt even been moved in a decade. The public transport system there is wonderful compared to the US.

I came into this thread to basically say this, but you already did a better job than I could have. The interstate highway system was probably one of the worst long term things we could've done to ourselves as a country.

And we have subsidied loans, free health care, social security, free education (university level), police dep., fire dep., sick pay from day 1 (although the employer pays the first week) and pension. For everyone.

Info on Australia is wrong.
It's usually around $1.30 per litre. which is AUD$4.927 per gallon, which at the current xchange rate >
4.92700 Australian dollars = 5.158569 U.S. dollars.
Coupled with the fact that we're a very sprawled out, low population density country, means we have something to gripe about.
btw, I do my part, I don't even own a car.

Does this factor in the exchange rate, as well? Compared to minimum wages and such. Isn't the the British pound worth roughly a little over $2 US Dollars, which would put the prices a little more equal. This makes sense in my head, but I am wondering if I am being completely stupid and missing something here.

How do you save the earth by taxing gas? I'm from Sweden so I hear this opinion all the time but I've never understood it.

Fact is that there are no viable alternatives to the car for people who does not live in the very middle of a larger city. Buses and trains seldom go at the right time and often cost nearly as much as going by car.

Some say that we should buy hybrids or electric cars instead but an electric car doesn't have the range needed for people who needs to travel 50km to work. Hybrids doesn't save the planet in any way since the batteries are so difficult to make that they are actually more energy-inefficient then a Land Rover if you factor in costs and energy that goes into making them. Not to mention that many diesel cars today use less fuel then the hybrids and are much cheaper and easier to manufacture.

But lets just say that electric cars were viable, how would that help? Since not many can afford to buy a brand new car you'd still be stuck with your old gas guzzler which costs so much to run that you can't even save money to get an electric or even hybrid one.

It would be a lot better if they just lowered taxes a bit instead and then used that money to promote and lower the price on green cars even more. That way you get people to switch to green cars quicker instead of getting them trapped in economic sinkholes they can't get out of.

Well a huge part about the gas culture in the united states is the layout of its cities. Cheap gas for 50+ years meant that grossly ineficiant suburbs popped up everywhere, it engrained car culture in the american psyche.

Unlike sweeden, transit options arent nearly as well designed and its cities arent nearly as compact. Its not so much that current cars are smog belching monsters, its that the sheer amount they are needed in these expansive cities makes the benifits of greener cars like hybrids that much larger.

In say, london for intance, driving a hybrid within the city limits isnt really going to save the planet that much, but if you live in many north american cities, you're driving a much greater distance in your commutes, and that small benifit increases to the point of being worth it.

Contrary to popular belief most cities in Sweden are built around cars as well since cities didn't start popping up here until late 50s. Transit is quite poor in rural areas where most people live and that leaves many to commute up to 30-40 miles a day.

Thing about hybrids is that they only work in very very limited areas since the moment the gas engine kicks in, it's horribly inefficient due to not only having to move the car forward it also has to recharge the now drained batteries. For long commutes a diesel car is a much much better and greener option. It consumes less fuel and therefor does less damage.

Sadly most governments are slow and dimwitted when it comes to cars so they're still punishing diesel and promoting horrid hybrids.

i don't really know. I guess the thought is that people would drive only if they absolutely have to. It would definitely cut down on those long roadtrips, commuting 50 miles to work etc. But yea, saving the earth would probably take something slightly more drastic

I really don't think Puerto Rico's gas prices are that high. I have family living there and they told me it is about as much as the US or a bit higher. If it had been higher I would have heard nothing but complaints from my family about it, haha.

Although this is true, the availability of a car in the states that gets better than 32 MPG is quite rare. People do still need to transport themselves to work and such... until a viable alternative is up for sale.